Rory, you were my messenger when you wrote: Thru The Valley of the Shadow of Death
Rory, thank God for your message. I started reading this after coming in from my outside closet where I talk to my Lord. For a long time my body has been broken. In January 2009, I had a terrible motorcycle wreak here in the Philippines. A drunken man riding a bicycle darted in front of me and we crashed. While those at the accident site claim I was conscious and talking, to this very day I remember nothing of the aftermath of the crash. For 3 days after the crash I remember nothing, some bits and pieces, a few seconds of words that seem like dreams, possibly true, but I've never been sure.
Complicating my crash, I was prescribed Oxycontin and apparently my body reacts differently than most. Everything I put in my mouth tasted like cardboard, making me sick. For 30 days I struggled losing about 1 pound per day. I now weigh less than I did when I wrestled in high school where I was trying to reduce my weight to maintain my weight class. Less than 126 lbs. My normal weight is 170 lbs. To this very day I have struggled to get the weight back on, but it seems issues that come from mysterious places prevent me as I start making any progress.
At this same time I am fighting against poverty and corruption in the Philippines, while also teaching and speaking out about Salvation, the End Times, my doubts about Pre-/Mid-Tribulation Rapture, and anything else the Holy Spirit guides me to address. I am nothing but a good old Kentucky country-boy, a rural raised man, not a minister, not a teacher, but I have been called to do both of those here. I sometimes feel so weak, not capable of doing the Lord's Work properly. The crash weakened me, while I was still trying to recover from a earlier illness in 2007, Amoebic Dysentery. All of my medical attention for those was here in the Philippines, so the quality of the medical treatments is a little in question. I sometimes experience Vertigo and my balance is disrupted a great deal. A shame because I loved snow skiing, water skiing, roller skating; many of the sports that require good balance. Of course most of those are not even available here, so maybe I’ve lost little.
My Prayer before reading your article was for Jesus to come make His presence felt by me, so I could gain strength to help non-believers. To guide them; my community and my family to Jesus. I'm over 8000 miles from my home, and actually right now, I don't even have a home in the US. But the US is still my home; I don't need a house there. My memories are the home that I remember. My strength over the past few weeks has ebbed, and then been renewed by Jesus. I've felt His Presence, but there are also times when I don't feel him. It worries me; I know that during my lowest times He promised to carry me. And someday when I look back at this time I will know then that he was carrying me, but when you are at those moments, it feels so lonely. I miss my Lord during these times. I reach out to others and confess myself, just as you did. I guess my messenger does not have to be in person. The internet provided mine. And I thank you for being that messenger Rory.
I really wish the Lord would reveal those 3 days to me, but if not I will still follow His teachings, and will still do His Will. I would like to ask you Rory, to keep me in your prayer if you will. I don't ask for anything for myself, but for these dear friends and family here in the Philippines, I do ask for your prayer for them. And I ask you to also pray for my home family in the United States. So much trouble happening there right now. My heart is with all my American Brothers and Sisters.
With all My Blessing,
Mark Borders
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeletenot much to say. I remember the 4th day laying in bed, all smashed up, hurting, and I told the Lord "thank you for what you are doing in my life. I trust you".
The 9th day I was released, "9" means "finality of judgment". That night at home, (the hospital was a 2 hour drive), we made a couch bed where I would be for the next 3-4 weeks, in the fam room.
Our bed was upstairs and I could not even walk, let alone stairs.
Two dreams were given to me that night.
In the first, I was immersed in complete blackness, thick darkness. I heard the voice of God and woke. But I could not recall His Words.
I knew it was God.
I went back to sleep and dreamed again.
THis time I was underwater in beautiful, blue water like around Bermuda. It was not drowning, it was simply deep underwater and the water was clear and blue.
There was a yacht-like boat down there, it was white with gold trim, it had some damage.
As I pondered it, I thought what a fine boat it was and how it should be on the surface, dried out, and made useable to enjoy.
As I watched, the boat began to rise to the surface, stern first., and I heard the voice of the Lord again.
"There is only ONE who can restore this operation".
It was the same words spoken in the first dream, now I remembered them as they were doubled.
Mark,
"There is only ONE who can restore YOUR operation".
PRETRIB RAPTURE – HIDDEN FACTS !
ReplyDeleteHow can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He is now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. Since Jesus must personally participate in the rapture, and since He can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends, the rapture therefore cannot take place before the end of the trib! Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening (Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who would be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54). (Will death be ended before or during the trib? Of course not! And vs. 54 is also tied to Isa. 25:8 which is Israel's posttrib resurrection!) If anyone wonders how long pretrib rapturism has been taught, he or she can Google “Pretrib Rapture Diehards.” Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 it was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!). Other Google articles throwing light on long-covered-up facts about the 180-year-old pretrib rapture view include “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “X-Raying Margaret,” "Edward Irving is Unnerving," “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," and “Deceiving and Being Deceived” – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” which is available at Armageddon Books online. Just my two cents’ worth.
(saw above while netting - Louella)